


Darcy Sails After Her

by LPK9



Category: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Novel, Regency Romance, Sweet, clean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26358706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LPK9/pseuds/LPK9
Summary: Fitzwilliam Darcy casts aside duty and family responsibilities to pursue Elizabeth Bennet across the sea. How will he find her and win her love and hand in marriage?Note: I took down this story per Amazon policy. The completed book including additional content is now available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 297





	1. Prologue and Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, I added the prologue to chapter 1 because AO3 was calling chapter 1 as chapter2, chapter 2 as chapter 3, etc. Talk about confusing! :-)

**_Darcy Sails After Her_ **

Prologue 

June 3rd, 1812

Elizabeth Bennet took a deep breath of hot, muggy air as she strode, arms pumping vigorously, toward her home of Longbourn. Her long walk along the familiar paths near Meryton had cleared her mind, and she felt ready to face her family again. Her mother, always restless and noisy, had been particularly indignant this morning over her daughters’ inability to find husbands. Kitty had coughed and complained, still outraged that the youngest Miss Bennet, her sister Lydia, was enjoying herself in Brighton as the guest of the wife of Colonel Forster, who commanded a regiment of militia men. Mary had pounded on the pianoforte with more determination than skill. Dear Jane, precious Jane, was always a sweet companion, but Elizabeth’s eldest sister was still mourning the loss of her first true love, Mr. Charles Bingley. The man had courted Jane the previous fall, only to be driven away through the combined efforts of his best friend, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Bingley’s sisters. 

Mr. Darcy …

As always, thoughts of Mr. Darcy, a handsome gentleman who owned a vast estate in Derbyshire, provoked a maelstrom of emotion. On the one hand, Elizabeth was still outraged over the man’s high handed and insulting marriage proposal to her only a few weeks previously while Elizabeth was visiting a friend in Kent. Mr. Darcy had claimed to be in love with her, and then proceeded to roundly insult her connections, denigrate her family and their manners, and had admitted to encouraging Charles Bingley to abandon her sister Jane. 

On the other hand, she could only feel shame over her championship of one Lieutenant George Wickham, a member of the militia. She had found Mr. Wickham completely charming and had accepted, like a gullible fool, his story of being cheated of a valuable church living by Mr. Darcy. It turned out that Wickham had lied about the living, and that the man was a practiced seducer.

Well, she would never see Mr. Darcy again, nor was it likely that Mr. Wickham would ever cross her path. In a few short weeks, she would be traveling north to the Lakes with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, the latter a tradesman in London. The Gardiners were kind, beloved and refined. Her own family was often an embarrassment in society, but at least she had some relatives of whom she need not blush.

One of the servants was carefully trimming a bush and she smiled at him as she walked down the main path toward the front door. Mr. Hill, the butler, opened the door for her, obviously having noted her approach. She smiled at him as well, fondly; Mr. and Mrs. Hill had served at Longbourn for many years, and she loved them.

Elizabeth passed into the hall and hesitated. Mrs. Bennet was still carrying on loudly, lamenting Mr. Bingley’s abandonment of Jane. She really did not want to hear more about that sad subject. She turned to the right and stopped at the end of the corridor where the library door was, as usual, firmly shut. Mr. Bennet, her father and the master of Longbourn, spent many hours in his library, hidden away from the absurdity of his family. Elizabeth was his favorite and always welcome, and she could safely hide here with her father until the next meal.

She rapped on the door and then opened it immediately. Mr. Bennet was seated on his favorite arm chair but he was slumped to one side, his head lolling oddly, his eyes open and blank, and his book had fallen on the floor.

For the first time in many years, Elizabeth Bennet screamed.

Chapter 1 

_Pemberley_

_July 28th, 1812_

Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley, gazed with distaste at the two letters sitting on the desk in his study. They were both from his widowed aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and he knew exactly what would be in them, to the point that he was almost prepared to throw them into the fire instead of reading them.

Lady Catherine would harass him about marrying his cousin, Anne, his aunt’s only daughter and the heiress to the great estate of Rosings in Kent. Catherine de Bourgh had dreamed for twenty-five years, ever since her only child had proven female, of marrying her daughter to the heir of Pemberley, her sister’s son, Fitzwilliam Darcy.

There was a time, years ago, when he had vaguely contemplated marrying his cousin, though he did not love her in a romantic sense. Indeed, if he were entirely honest, he loved Anne only in a dutiful way. Poor Anne was not a healthy woman, and spent much of her time wrapped in warm clothes and nodding by the fire. She was as different as could be imagined from …

No, he would not think of her. He would not! He had offered her his hand in marriage in a moment of madness and been turned down, and he was grateful. He was. Elizabeth Bennet was not truly worthy …

But no, that was not true. Elizabeth was _entirely_ worthy. She had faced him with fire in her eye, her petite form rigid with righteous anger, and blasted him for his ungentlemanly behavior. He, Fitzwilliam Darcy, had been proud and arrogant and rude and had reaped the harvest of his poor behavior. Her understanding of his character had been deviously twisted by that scoundrel, George Wickham, but he had only himself to blame for the initial misunderstanding between them. Darcy had insulted Elizabeth on the day they met, and his subsequent behavior had convinced her of his arrogance and disdain. 

And yet, he still loved her. He loved Elizabeth desperately. When he had fled Kent after being refused, he hoped that his ardent adoration would fade with time. It had not. He and his sister, Georgiana, had quickly traveled to Pemberley, but he found that painful too. He had hoped to marry Elizabeth and have her installed as the mistress of Pemberley, and to walk the quiet halls of his home was agony. He found himself listening, sometimes, for her musical laughter, and mourned the silence of the great house.

So he and Georgiana had traveled farther north to a subsidiary Darcy estate in Lancashire, which no Darcy had visited in more than a decade. He had found much to do there and, as was usual when his heart was in turmoil, found refuge and some comfort in work. Georgiana too, had been happy. The countryside near the estate was quite different from London and Pemberley, and she had spent pleasant hours sketching.

But now they were back at Pemberley and Darcy, after dealing with all the other personal correspondence which had piled up in the last weeks, stared gloomily at the his aunt’s letters. With a deep, self-pitying sigh, he opened the one dated first and began reading the page.

_June 12th, 1812_

_Dear Darcy,_

_Well, this is inconvenient indeed. You no doubt remember Mr. William Collins, the rector who been established at Hunsford for less than a year. You may recollect that the man is heir to Longbourn, the estate where Miss Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters were raised. Her father, Mr. Bennet, died suddenly last week, and Mr. Collins is departing to take control of his estate in the next few days. It is quite inconsiderate of Mr. Bennet to die so suddenly! Now I am forced to interview other candidates for the Hunsford parsonage …”_

Darcy realized he was holding his breath and forced himself to suck in deep draughts of air. He quickly scanned the letter for further news of his beloved Elizabeth. But while the expected harassment about marrying Anne filled the rest of the letter, but there was nothing more about his darling who had unexpectedly lost her father and likely been forced from her home.

He tore open the second letter when he was finished with the first and scanned the paper greedily in search of more information.

“ _… it is indeed most regrettable and absurd that Miss Elizabeth Bennet refused Mr. Collins’s offer of marriage some months ago. If she had accepted him as any sensible woman would have, her mother and sisters could have remained at Longbourn. As it is, with my advice, Mr. Collins has ordered them all to depart. Mrs. Bennet has a reputation for being a vulgar sort of woman, and I see no reason for Mr. and Mrs. Collins to support her and her numerous daughters. I do not understand at all why the woman did not have a boy like a sensible female. If I had had more than one child, he would have been a boy, and remarkably well favored._

_I did quite like Miss Elizabeth Bennet, though the girl has at times an inappropriately pert tongue in her head, so I have devised a splendid plan for her care. You may remember Lord Daw, a distant cousin of my husband. The man is now in his forties, a widower, and he is very desirous of marrying a young lady in the hopes of producing an heir. He is but a baron, but any member of the peerage is far more than a Bennet daughter has any right to expect. Indeed, I am astonished that Lord Daw has not yet found a woman to wed, but men can be quite incompetent at times. I have recommended Miss Elizabeth to him as an appropriate bride and am confident that now, with the specter of starvation looming, that she will sensibly accept his offer …”_

Darcy’s heart thundered and he felt both sick and faint. Elizabeth, married to an aging widower? It could not be!

////////////

_London_

_3 days later_

“Mr. Darcy, sir.”

Mr. Charles Bingley, who had been gazing blankly out the window at nothing in particular, leaped to his feet as if stung by a hornet, “Darcy! Come in, my friend, come in! I had no idea you were in London!”

Darcy walked inside quickly, barely waiting for the door to close behind him before addressing his friend, “Bingley, do you have any idea where the Bennet women are living now?”

Charles Bingley gazed at his closest friend incredulously. Now that he was over his surprise at Darcy’s sudden appearance, he noted that Darcy’s face was pale, his eyes shadowed and his necktie slightly askew. In a more casual man such an appearance would merely indicate a late night with too much ale, but Darcy was sober to a fault and always carefully dressed.

Wait, the Bennet women?

“What are you speaking of, Darcy?” he demanded, gesturing toward a nearby seat as he poured a couple of brandies. “The Bennets? What about them?”

Darcy accepted the brandy and threw it down his throat, coughing slightly as it burned. 

“Mr. Bennet died some six weeks ago, Bingley,” he explained, his eyes watering from brandy, exhaustion and distress. “I have been at my satellite estate in Lancashire until a few days ago, and returned to Pemberley to find two letters from my aunt Catherine describing the death of Mr. Bennet and Mr. Collins’s move to Longbourn …”

He trailed away and shook his head, “With my aunt’s encouragement, he evicted the Bennet ladies from their home within weeks of the loss of their husband and father. I can hardly understand such cruelty.”

Bingley’s mouth was hanging open, “It is cruel and indeed immoral, Darcy, but why should you care? You were the one who convinced me that Miss Jane Bennet did not truly love me and was only interested in my money! You despise the Bennets; they are hardly your concern.”

Darcy sprang to his feet and took a few turns back and forth before facing his younger friend, “I was wrong, Bingley.”

“Wrong? About what?”

“About everything, really, I suppose. Everything that mattered. Miss Jane Bennet did love you. The Bennets — yes, there is a want of both connection and propriety in the mother and younger girls, but does it really matter when one is truly in love?”

Bingley was aware of a ringing in his ears and he glanced uneasily at the brandy decanter. Was he dreaming or drunk? Was this really his staid friend, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy saying such absurdly romantic things?

Wait.

“Miss Bennet did love me? How could you know that?”

Darcy ran a frantic hand through his now very ruffled hair, “I offered for Miss Elizabeth two months ago while she was visiting a friend in Kent. She had discovered that I was involved in your abandonment of ... in your decision not to return to Hertfordshire, and she was outraged. She stated that her sister Jane was very much attached to you and most grieved when you did not return to Netherfield.”

Bingley’s eyes bugged out incredulously, and his next words were full of fury, “You offered for Miss Elizabeth Bennet? How could you discourage me from offering for Miss Bennet and turn around to ask her younger sister for her hand in marriage? And if you offered for her, why do you not know where she is?”

“Because she refused me, Bingley,” Darcy replied starkly, “I was an utter fool. I thought she admired and loved me as I admired and loved her, when in fact she utterly despised me. I ... my proposal was horrific, Bingley. I insulted her and her family and spoke of how debasing it was that I would even ask for her hand. And now she and her mother and sisters are destitute and I do not know where they are. Indeed, I can do nothing for them, not really, but I need to know that they are well. That _she_ is well.”

Bingley felt slightly dizzy from this outpouring of information and leaned against the desk of his office for support. He poured himself another brandy and, at Darcy’s gesture, poured his friend another one as well.

“Miss Bennet did love me,” Mr. Bingley said finally, in wonder.

“Yes.”

“She must loathe me now. I left her without a word ...”

“That was my fault, Bingley. When I wrote to Miss Elizabeth ...”

“What?!”

Darcy waved an impatient hand, “She accused me of more than destroying her sister’s hopes; she also had her head filled with lies from George Wickham, the licentious son of my father’s steward. I wrote a letter describing my dealings with him. I also told Miss Elizabeth that I had persuaded you to stay in London instead of returning to Netherfield, and that I also conspired with your sisters to keep you from learning that Miss Bennet was in London at the beginning of this year.”

“What?!!!”

Darcy’s expression grew even more shamefaced, “Yes, Miss Bennet was visiting her relations at Gracechurch Street for three months this last winter. Miss Bennet visited your sister Miss Bingley, who was distant and did everything in her power to discourage the acquaintance. Indeed, I know your sister waited three weeks to return the visit, and when she did so, she was sufficiently unpleasant that Miss Bennet realized that the relationship was at a permanent end.”

Now Bingley’s expression was one of open fury, “You concealed Miss Bennet’s visit to Town and that she visited my sister? You connived with Caroline to break the heart of the kindest woman in the world? Darcy, how could you? How _dare_ you?”

“In truth I do not know. It was a mixture of arrogance, impertinence and misguided concern for you that led me to believe that I had the right to so interfere with your life, Bingley. I apologize. Indeed, if it makes you feel better, feel free to strike me. I deserve it.”

Bingley, to the surprise of both men, took Darcy at his word and sent a strong right hook into his friend’s jaw. Darcy was knocked into a convenient chair, where he sat panting in amazement, caressing his aching mandible.

“That did make me feel better,” Bingley stated thoughtfully, reaching out his right hand toward his friend. “Come, Darcy, get up. We need to find the Bennet ladies. Given that my sister actually visited Miss Bennet, I know how we can easily find the address of her relations.”

\----------------

_Author Note: Many thanks to those of you who are reading this fic. And my hat is off to my handsome editor and husband, who is now juggling edits on three fanfics. Though this particular one was HIS idea so... :-)._

  
_Be sure to check out my P &P Variation novels on Amazon. My new release: The Banished Uncle_

_The Blind Will See_

_I am Jael_

_I Have Been Jaeled_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

“You are certain that this is the house?” Darcy inquired with surprise in his tone.

“Yes, sir,” Bingley’s coachman stated stolidly and Bingley laughed.

“You need have no concern, Darcy. Caleb has a phenomenal memory. Shall we?”

Darcy began walking toward the front door of the house on Gracechurch Street where the Bennets’ London relations dwelled. He was startled at how pleasant the area was with its neat, two story brick homes and tidy lawns. This particular house was not large, but it was well maintained.

A maid answered the door, invited them into the vestibule and took their cards. She left, allowing Darcy to look around him. Once again he was impressed. The furnishings were not particularly expensive, but they were understated and elegant. He could hear the distant sounds of childish laughter from the upper floors, which also won his approval. He appreciated a home where children were happy.

“This way, please, sirs,” the maid invited, stepping back into view. The two gentlemen followed her through a corridor and into a back sitting room which faced the rear lawn. 

Darcy’s heart was beating rapidly as he stepped forward and looked around quickly and hopefully. He wanted to see Elizabeth desperately, to be assured of her good health and well-being. On the other hand, they had last seen one another at Hunsford after a bitter argument, and since then the woman had lost her father and her home. Would she be angry or hurt by his sudden appearance?

In any case, he was disappointed. An unfamiliar woman rose to her feet along with Miss Mary Bennet, but the room was otherwise empty.

“Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley,” the woman said with a gracious smile. She was in her mid-thirties and dressed in the sober lavender of half mourning, “I am Mrs. Gardiner. You know my niece, Miss Mary Bennet, I believe.”

“Miss Mary,” Bingley said, speaking gently to the girl who was dressed completely in black. “My deepest condolences on the loss of your father.”

Darcy also murmured his sympathies and Mary nodded gravely, “Thank you, Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy. I confess that I am quite astonished to see you both here.”

Darcy flinched slightly at this but Bingley spoke with his usual forthrightness, “Miss Mary, we only just learned of the tragic loss of your father and your home. We are so very grieved on your behalf.”

“Thank you, sir,” Mary replied softly, and Mrs. Gardiner gestured to the men to sit.

“Will you have some coffee or tea?” she asked as a maid entered with a tray. The men acquiesced, and all were silent save for Mrs. Gardiner’s request on their preferences of sugar.

“Mr. Darcy,” she said as she passed him a cup, “I grew up in Lambton near Pemberley and have such fond memories of my years in Derbyshire. You have a lovely estate.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Gardiner,” Darcy replied. “May I ask who your father was?”

“He was the rector of the church in Lambton, Mr. Alexander Greene,” the woman explained fondly. “Our family was very happy there but when he passed away, we moved to London, and I met Mr. Gardiner.”

Darcy had never met Mr. Greene, though he remembered his name, “Have you been back to Lambton recently, Mrs. Gardiner?”

“I have not,” the woman replied regretfully. “My husband’s business requires his attention here in London. We had hoped to make a trip north to the Lakes this summer with Miss Elizabeth, but alas ...”

She trailed off and looked at Mary, whose face wore a distant, wooden expression. With a flash of understanding, Darcy realized that she was suppressing a desire to cry in company, and he quickly sought to turn the subject.

“I hope you are able to make that trip someday, Mrs. Gardiner. May I ask whether Mrs. Bennet and all of her daughters are here with you?”

“No,” Mary spoke up. “My mother and two youngest sisters are living in Meryton with our Aunt and Uncle Phillips. My Aunt and Uncle Gardiner were gracious enough to take me and Jane in when our father passed on to his reward, but Jane has found a position as a companion to a young lady in London and no longer lives here.”

Darcy felt his tongue freeze in his mouth at these words. Miss Mary had mentioned Jane and Lydia and Kitty and Mrs. Bennet but what of Elizabeth?

What of Elizabeth?!

“A companion!” Bingley cried out, his attention on the eldest Bennet daughter. “I ... that is ... I did not imagine that the daughter of a gentleman would be required ...

He stuttered to a halt, allowing Mrs. Gardiner to speak.

“My brother Bennet regrettably did not leave anything in the way of savings for the girls. Mrs. Bennet’s portion is not sufficient to care for all the women, so Jane was pleased to take the position when it became available.”

Darcy swallowed convulsively and opened his mouth to ask about Elizabeth, but Bingley, once again, spoke first.

“Might I have her direction, Mrs. Gardiner? Please.”

The lady stared at him intently and then looked at Miss Mary, “Mary, my dear, would you be so kind as to take the children outside to play with the puppy? I believe their nurse would most appreciate a rest from their antics.”

“Of course, Aunt Gardiner,” the girl replied, rising to her feet along with the gentlemen, who bowed to her as she left the room.

Once the door shut behind her, Madeline Gardiner’s tone grew sharp, “Mr. Bingley, I am aware that you were assiduously attentive to my eldest niece last fall, to the point that Jane and the local society of Meryton assumed you would make her an offer. Then you abandoned her without so much as a word of farewell. I was also present when Miss Bingley came to visit Jane in late January, and showed through her words, tone, and expressions that she wished to break all discourse between them. These girls have suffered enough through the loss of their father and home, have they not? Must you torment Jane further?”

Bingley’s face was ashen and he opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“It was my fault, Mrs. Gardiner,” Darcy said hastily.

She turned her gimlet gaze upon him and he felt a twinge of concern; he well remembered a strict but loving governess who had stared him down in just such a way when he was still a carefree boy.

“I fail to see how you could be at fault for your friend’s inconsistency and, dare I say it, cruelty.”

“I did not believe that Miss Bennet truly cared for Mr. Bingley, Mrs. Gardiner. His sisters and I followed him to London and persuaded him that Miss Bennet was not in love with him, but would feel obliged to accept his offer of marriage for financial reasons. We went so far as to conceal Miss Bennet’s presence in London earlier this year. I realized the error in what I did and told my friend only today of our deception in this matter, along with the news of Mr. Bennet’s death.”

Mrs. Gardiner stared at him for a long moment and then turned her attention on Bingley, who looked on with an air of abject misery.

“And when you learned of Mr. Darcy’s actions, plus the death of my brother by marriage, you rushed here to see whether Jane is well?”

“Yes,” Bingley said quickly, and then added, “in actual fact, the first thing I did was hit Darcy in the jaw. Then we rushed here.”

This provoked a glimmer of a smile and Darcy flushed as the lady turned her attention on him with a particular focus on his chin, where a bruise was no doubt blossoming.

“If I do allow you to see my eldest niece, what is your intention, Mr. Bingley?”

“I will ask her to marry me.”

Mrs. Gardiner blinked in astonishment, “Immediately?”

“Yes, immediately. I should have asked for her hand back in November. I never should have left her, never should have listened to my sisters and Darcy’s discouraging words. I truly thought she loved me, and I certainly love her, but I could not abide the thought of her marrying me for any reason other than love. If my abandonment makes her hate me, I deserve it. If she requires time, I will ask for a courtship. I will do anything to win her.”

Jane’s aunt tilted her head thoughtfully and then nodded, “Very well, Mr. Bingley. Jane has a half day off on Wednesday afternoons while her charge is busy with French and pianoforte lessons. She will thus be here tomorrow at noon for her weekly visit. You are invited to come to this house an hour later; if she chooses not to speak to you, I will give orders that you not be admitted.”

There was a sheen of perspiration on the younger man’s brow but he nodded.

“What of Miss Elizabeth?” Darcy inquiring, trying, and failing, to keep his tone calm. “She is ... surely she is not ...”

Mrs. Gardiner turned her intent stare on him once again, “I confess I find your question rather astonishing, Mr. Darcy. You clearly disapprove of the Bennet family in general, and I understand from Elizabeth that you were particularly unimpressed with her person and character.”

“No,” Darcy replied hoarsely, unable to maintain calm. “No. That is not true. I have for many months admired her as the most handsome, charming and winsome of women. I love her, Mrs. Gardiner.”

The matron lifted surprised eyebrows, “And yet you did not speak?”

“I proposed marriage to her during her visit to her friend Mrs. Collins in Kent, Mrs. Gardiner. Miss Elizabeth had learned of my interference in Mr. Bingley’s courtship of Miss Bennet and turned me down most thoroughly.”

Elizabeth’s aunt looked shocked for a moment before a reluctant smile lit up her attractive visage, “That sounds like our Lizzy. She would indeed reject a man who was the cause of her dear sister’s anguish. It is, however, regrettable in some ways. I wonder if ...”

She trailed off and shook her head, “Well, that time is past. Elizabeth is a determined young lady but if she had known that her father would die before his time, and what would follow, perhaps she would have responded with less vitriol.”

“There was also the matter of a man of our acquaintance who had lied about my character,” Darcy said uncomfortably.

“Mr. Wickham? I know that Elizabeth championed him months ago and I liked him when we were introduced, but his charming façade clearly concealed a dissolute character. He ran away with the young wife of his Colonel in the militia while his regiment was stationed at Brighton. Elizabeth knows now what kind of man he is.”

Darcy grimaced in disgust, “That does not surprise me. But to return to ... to Miss Elizabeth, I assure you that I am still very much in love with her and very much wish to make her my wife, if she is willing, of course.”

He waited hopefully, and then his heart sank as Mrs. Gardiner shook her head.

“I am afraid there are complications, Mr. Darcy. You have met Mrs. Bennet, I believe?”

“Yes.”

“Her greatest fear came true when Mr. Bennet died, gentlemen. The estate went to a distant cousin, who evicted the Bennet ladies within weeks of Mr. Bennet’s demise.”

“I am aware. My aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, was the patroness of Mr. Collins. Indeed, my aunt urged Mr. Collins to send the Bennets away. I admit this openly but with humiliation, that my own aunt could be so cruel.”

“Are you aware that Elizabeth refused Mr. Collins’s hand in marriage?”

“I am,” Darcy admitted.

Mrs. Gardiner sighed, “My dear niece seems intent on refusing eligible offers. Mr. Collins, you, and now she has another offer, a Lord Daw.”

Darcy felt his heart speed up again.

“They are engaged?” he asked hoarsely, struggling to maintain some semblance of dignity. He wanted to weep.

“They are not. I will be truthful with you, Mr. Darcy. When Lord Daw approached Elizabeth, my second eldest niece was open to the possibility of marrying the man for the sake of her mother and sisters. The time for a love match was, it seemed, at an end. We do not know exactly why Lord Daw is interested in Elizabeth ...”

“I can tell you that,” Darcy interpolated with anger. “My aunt, Lady Catherine, interfered again. First she ordered Mr. Collins to cast the Bennet ladies from their home, and then she suggested Miss Elizabeth as a suitable bride to Lord Daw, who is a distant relation of my deceased uncle, Sir Lewis de Bourgh. I understand he is a widower, childless and old enough to be Miss Elizabeth’s father.”

“It is worse than that,” Madeline Gardiner responded gravely. “Mr. Gardiner looked into his reputation and it is a dreadful one. He is a gambler and a rake, and he treated his first wife terribly. Elizabeth cannot marry him.”

“Perhaps I...,” Darcy began hopefully, but subsided when the woman shook her head firmly.

“As I said, it is not simple. Mr. Collins, due no doubt to his veneration of Lady Catherine, was most insistent that Elizabeth marry the man. Mrs. Bennet, filled with terror over the loss of her home and the specter of poverty, was equally determined. Lord Daw himself appeared here when the three eldest Bennet girls journeyed to London, and he was proprietary and ...”

The lady shuddered openly, “He is a vile man, and I believe a dangerous one. The kind of man who will take what he believes he deserves, and he thinks he owns Lizzy. Elizabeth has run away, Mr. Darcy. She has hidden herself away so that she can no longer be opportuned by Lord Daw, Mr. Collins or her mother.”

Bingley gasped at this, “Run away? And you do not know where she is?”

“I do not,” Mrs. Gardiner replied in a precise tone. “I would not care to lie to Mrs. Bennet or my nieces, you see. I have no idea where she is.”

Darcy leaned forward, “But someone does know where she is? Mr. Gardiner, perhaps?”

Mrs. Gardiner stared at him for a long moment and then smiled reluctantly, “You are an intelligent man, sir. Yes, my husband knows where she is.”

“May I speak to him?”

“You may, but not today. I need to inform him of your previous interactions with Elizabeth so that he can make an informed decision. Perhaps you could come tomorrow with Mr. Bingley; your friend can speak to Jane, and you can visit my husband in either his office here at home or his place of business?”

Darcy knew that every minute, every hour, would be torture until he could speak to Mr. Gardiner, but he nodded, “Thank you, Mrs. Gardiner. That is an excellent plan and more gracious than I expected or deserve.”

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to check out my P&P novels on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.  
> The Banished Uncle  
> The Blind Will See  
> I am Jael  
> I Have Been Jaeled  
> A Fortuitous Fall  
>   
>  **Fair warning. I intend to publish this entire story here (as I write it) including the last chapter, but the last chapter will only be up a few days before I have to take it down per Amazon rules when I self-publish.**
> 
> **Note: I started the publishing process and had to take down the middle chapters per Amazon policy. There will be 25 chapters total, and the remaining will be published soon.  
> **  
> 


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